High-Risk Debt
Still Has Allure
For Buyout Deals

At a time when stock markets across the world are spooked by the contradictory demons of higher inflation and lower economic growth, the risky end of the corporate-debt markets has barely winced.

Some market analysts are flummoxed that the reassessment of risk, especially in emerging-market bonds and stocks, has largely ignored U.S. and European corporate debt. The resilience of poorly rated corporate debt, including so-called junk debt, which has a higher likelihood of default than does investment-grade corporate debt,...